[flagpole]

Alarmist story from El Reg
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07...ays_microsoft/

"Microsoft has advised Vista and Windows 7 users to put Gadgets and the Windows Sidebar to the sword, following the revelation of yet-to-be-detailed remote code execution vulnerabilities in the features."

Technet Advisory
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s...visory/2719662

[JulesandSand]

Thanks for that. I had the cpu/ram meters gadget running.

I've run the fix it from the 2nd link to disable the sidebar.

[emptybox]

Nah, b*gg*r that. I like my desktop gadgets. I feel the need to know how my CPU and RAM usage is going, and whether there's any network activity.
Perhaps if they introduced a way to have a task manager display up all the time?

I could do without the likes of the clock and calendar, but what's the point of a blank desktop.

I think microsoft introduced those very 'busy' wallpapers for Windows 7 to try to wean you off gadgets and desktop icons, but I prefer a restful wallpaper and plenty of gadgets. Oh also a dock; I always like a dock.
Gave up most desktop icons years ago though.

[flagpole]

i don't know why gadgets fell out of favour. i love them. i think they figure if they say they are unpopular enough we will think that they're the only ones that like them.

[emptybox]

Originally Posted by flagpole

i don't know why gadgets fell out of favour. i love them. i think they figure if they say they are unpopular enough we will think that they're the only ones that like them.

I don't think those articles are saying there's any present problem with the gadgets, are they?
Just that because microsoft has dropped support for them, they won't be plugging any future vulnerabilities?

I guess with Windows 8 there are already tiles for email and weather, so presumably eventually you will be able to get live tiles for CPU and network etc, and that'll take away the need for duplicate gadgets on the desktop.

But for me any good OS needs to have a way to easily give you information about how your system and network is running.

[mac2708]

Originally Posted by emptybox

Perhaps if they introduced a way to have a task manager display up all the time?

Well, almost
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../bb727136.aspx

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...-shortcut.html

[emptybox]

Originally Posted by mac2708

Well, almost
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../bb727136.aspx

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...-shortcut.html

That'll give you CPU usage in your system tray, which is useful, but not enough.

I know you can download something like Rainlendar, but that's third-party stuff.
And in XP I always used to use Sysmetrix, but I don't think that's been worked on for a long time?

[mac2708]

Originally Posted by emptybox

And in XP I always used to use Sysmetrix, but I don't think that's been worked on for a long time?

Not since March 2011
http://www.xymantix.com/sysmetrix/download